Well, I’ve got to say that the 2010 Vancouver Olympics surprised me. Going into to them I really didn’t think that they would keep my attention at all, and frankly I wasn’t too interested. To my view, we (the public) were sold a bill of goods regarding how much this was going to cost and what we’d get out of it. To this day I don’t believe that the Olympics are worth it from a financial standpoint and that politicians use deceptive means and disingenuous arguments to support bringing the games to their cities. Call me cynical (which I am)… I view the Olympics as another example of corruption in our “Democracy”.

Now that I’ve got that off my chest… I found myself curiously drawn-in to the spirit of the event. I found the opening ceremonies quite well done. They demonstrated the pride we Canadians feel for our country quite expressively while not crossing the oh-so-thin line into “We are better than you!”. What I can’t stand is state demonstrations of power, and this was not that at all.

I found the gesture of acknowledging the 4 First Nations’ Leaders as Heads of State quite symbolic and refreshing (and HOPE that that sentiment can be carried forward into practice). Having the Native Peoples greet the world to our nation was uplifting for me and I found it was done without prejudice or stereotype.

The further art pieces meshed quite well, giving a both historical AND contemporary feel to the event. I personally enjoyed the performances by Sarah McLachlan, Ashley MacIsaac and Shane Koyczan.

There seems to be some debate as to the propriety of Nikki Yanofsky’s rendition of our national anthem. Some felt that because we couldn’t sing along it was inappropriate. I say BOLLOCKS to that! I thoroughly enjoyed it!

From a technical standpoint I think they did some very good work. The great Native statues really blew me away when they came out of the stage. The projections effects really provided a seamless experience for me. Especially when you had the Native man in the centre hitting the floor with his walking stick, and having the energy-ripple flow outward. Symbolically VERY impressive for me. The aerial work for the prairie piece was beautiful. And then there is the cauldron…

Ah the cauldron! You know what… I think it worked out perfectly! Conceptually it was excellent! Did one tower fail to rise… yes… was it a bit disappointing… at the time yes. Did they save the situation… yes. I loved how they dealt with it in the closing ceremonies! Not ignoring what happened but embracing it was the best thing they could have done. When Christine and I where watching, at first we couldn’t understand WHY the cauldron was not lit. We quickly understood why and thought it was thoroughly enjoyable to watch.

Now, the “We’re Canadian Let’s Lay It On Thick!” performance with Michael Buble… I’m still digesting it! Actually I liked it. They really did lay it on thick though! LOL What else can I say, it was just… WOW.

I was very pleased to see what we managed to achieve with the medal count. After the first week there were some serious concerns. But after everything is said and done we set a new record for gold medals and beat our Turin total. Close enough to “Own the Podium” for me. I generally view this as a great success for our athletes. Besides, what a thrilling way to get the 14th and record breaking gold medal: Hockey, Canada vs. US, US comes back from a 2 goal deficit with 24 seconds to go to force the extra frame… and Sidney Crosby converts a Jarome Iginla hard-fought pass into a 5-hole stunner FOR THE WIN! Hockey doesn’t get more exciting than that folks! That… was… AWESOME!

All in all this Olympics was a heart warming part of our history for me…

… now comes the bill and that’s going to be interesting. I can’t wait to see how that is spun by our intrepid leadership.

Cheers

Well, weeping Buddas can say it all sometimes. I was looking up from my couch and was (if you can call it that) inspired to take this shot. I find it rather symbolic of much of my past 10 months.

Not much for me to say really, just thought I should put something up since it’s been a while.

Hope people find the shot aesthetically pleasing.

RadMan

Just wanted to take a moment and wish a Merry XMas to everyone that frequents my little corner of the World Wide Web! Geopolitically it’s been an interesting year, and I’m sure 2010 is going to be more interesting still… so let’s hope we all make it through OK!

Best wishes to everyone!

RadMan(the)

OK, not really…

… no actually we finally had our kitchen island installed! Yay! About bloody time. Installation was originally slatted for Thursday, but that was not with my consultation and I wasn’t available. I re-scheduled for Friday, but got a call the day before telling me that they couldn’t make it… so Monday it is!

All told we are happy with the island and the installation. That being said, we were NOT impressed by the company we went with. Suncrest Cabinets is their name. We found the salesperson wanting both in communication capability (VERY poor English) and his willingness to take the time with us. The installer that showed up also was not impressive. We were concerned about the horror stories one hears regarding home renos, so we decided to be as specific as possible about what we wanted and that we expected a perfect job (and what that meant in real terms). We basically just got a snicker from the guy and a comment about how long he’s been doing this.

We also got negative reinforcement from the guy about our choices of where to put it exactly. It’s one thing to tell the customer your opinion (which we solicited). It is another to make negative comments about the space available after the installation is finished. For the record, we actually foresaw the limitations of our selections and are quite happy with how things turned out! In fact, while the island itself is more dominating than we thought it would be, the space it seems to take up is also less, so on all counts we are quite happy!

Not to mention that this turkey was slack on clean up and frankly seemed most concerned with getting outta here. Well, good riddance. We’re happy as peach with having an island and it’s placement.

And what about Suncrest. Well, if they weren’t the original cabinet makers (to match the existing kitchen cabinetry) we would NEVER have gone with them after the sales floor experience. Needless to say, we shall NOT be recommending them.

Anyhoo, here’s a couple of before and after shots.

Even though I’ve become a little cynical and jaded over the past while, from time to time life seems to throw things at us that merit a moment of appreciation. Mid-October clouds can be quite impressive.